Sunday, December 4. 2011

Walking thru the shop, you would not see much change in 1630 but internally progress was good.

Eric and Collin cut and hammered another 40+ tube ends from the firebox tube sheet.Hopefully this can be completed in another couple of weeks and then we can progress to cleaning, by wire brush and sand blasting, of all the internal surfaces. This will enable the inspection, which is the key objective of the whole exercise.

Mike and Bob continued with the firebox patch by starting the removal of one of the patch screws securing the outside wrapper in this area.It is hoped that this is the only one damaged to the point at which it will have to be replaced.Other tasks on 1630 itself are largely on hold until the tube ends are out.It is pretty difficult to work on the locomotive when someone is using an air hammer in the boiler which acts as a big sounding board!

Away from the locomotive, a lot of progress was made on clearing material out of the shop to the boxcar. Two large air tanks and other parts of #26 were successfully transfered to the boxcar and we now have a work space on the East side where we can work on large parts during the winter.

Space to work

We now have the area for the swaging operation clear and can hopefully start the set up next week.

Ready to set up swaging

On the Shay Dennis, with help from the "removals crew", made good progress on setting up stands to ensure that the locomotive is completely stable so that he can start welding the new smoke box plates into place.Funny, he seems to have a strong desire to see the thing completely supported.It may be to do with the fact that he will be working under there for days on end!!.

Preparing for smokebox rebuild

Good progress was made on cleaning the bolster from the truck.It makes an interesting comparison with the "before" picture of the bolster last week when first removed from the truck.

Result of a lot of hard work

However, a great deal more remains to be done when you look at the area where the springs sit in the truck. The steam shop is never short of big cleaning opportunities!!.

But lots more to do

On 428 several jobs were progressed:

We got input from an external advisor on the repair of the riveting furnace that we need to complete the cab riveting. When this repair is done, we can rivet the cab which will have a double benefit.428 will look a great deal better with its cab back on and a large area at the South end will become available for fabrication when the cab is off the floor.

Another group worked on the air compressor.A lot of carefully measurement was required to identify exactly what size of piston rings we need.With this done, we can now order them and move forward to reassembly once we have them.

Air pump core

Air pump piston

Cameron was working with Tom on machining bushes for 428.

Machining a bush

In other areas, Rick continued the covering of the lathe and Glenn worked on the radiator fitting on the Bay City crane.We are holding our breath on this one!.Weather permitting, it may be that next weekend the cooling will be in place and crane will have a working traction motor for the first time in 20+ years.

Sunday, December 4. 2011

There was a large crew on hand, following the holiday hiatus, and we passed another milestone in the restoration tasks for the Cleveland PCC.

Parts

A large number of parts had been sent out to a contractor for painting. These represent a lot of the trim and detail parts removed for repairing the body and getting that painted. Now they are back, in record time. SOME of them are seen staged in the shop in the above view. More are expected later this week.

Front Bumper

In short order, Eric Lorenz and Alex Randow turned to the task of starting to install them. Tricky business, and you almost had to be a circus contortionist, but the front bumper was installed. Actually there are three such pieces.

Rear Bumper

Before I knew it the rear bumper parts were appearing on the car. Eric and Alex watch as Nancy Ring tests the location of the rear retriever mounting ring.

Side Windows

Several volunteers spent some time during the day continuing to clean up and restore the myriad of side window sash. Julio Mojica joined the crew scrubbing off years of corrosion and dirt, and Alex and Nancy put in some time there also.

Lower Side Sash

As each sash resumes wearing its clean bright finish, we are applying a protective clear coat. Nancy tried her hand at that, and perhaps six were so coated by the end of the day.

The remarkable changes to the appearance of the car are giving the project team a big boost, and those following the progress admire the transformations.

Calendar

Quicksearch

Comments

Brian L. about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverTue, 03-17-2015 21:34Display first, operation later. It
needs to be watertight to be on
display with the streamliners in
yard 5, then we can start working
on putting the [...]

Roger Kramer about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverTue, 03-17-2015 19:04Hello David S We would love to
have the Silver Pony in operation.
At this time the coach dept does
not have enough volunteers and $ to
complete [...]

David S about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverTue, 03-17-2015 15:39On display? No plans for it to ever
become operational? I know it
wouldn't exactly "fit in" with the
heavyweights, but I bet it would be
very popular [...]

Brian L. about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverSun, 03-15-2015 13:18We have 3 "modernized"
Heavyweights, IC 2804, GTW 5316,
and UP 501. UP 501 is used for the
Terror on the Railroad event, GTW
5316 needs some major [...]

Chris about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverFri, 03-13-2015 02:06It looks like IRM DOES have about
three streamliner era coaches.
Though two are modernized
heavyweights, and one is more of a
luxury chair car. [...]

Brian L. about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverThu, 03-12-2015 11:20Ted,
The car started life as a near copy
of CB&Q 1923; our operational RPO
Baggage car. I have not managed to
find the number of the car it was
[...]

Brian L. about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverThu, 03-12-2015 11:11Not a whole lot. Operational cars
take priority obviously. Hopefully
we'll have the materials we need to
get it on display within a year or
two.

Brian L. about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverThu, 03-12-2015 11:04If we were to go after any
lightweight coaches, they would
either be junk or cost tens or
hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Postwar lightweights [...]

Roger Kramer about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverThu, 03-12-2015 10:57Hello Ted, Our info from CB&Q
Hist Society confirms that the
"bag" was once an RPO and was
converted to a baggage car.
Please help the cause by [...]

Roger Kramer about The Old Bag and the Silver BeaverThu, 03-12-2015 10:50Hi Dave, Regarding the Silver Pony
there are plans for future
installation of some windows but
nothing scheduled for the next six
months. We will be [...]